Politics Philosophized: “Emily in Paris” is capitalism in a sitcom

This week I wanted to write about something different from my normal focus on politics: Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.”

This show is about a marketing executive, Emily Cooper, who takes a position in Paris. She moves across the world without speaking a word of French, and makes her whole office adapt to her truly “American” ways.

Essentially, this show is your typical romantic comedy, just set in Paris. But it is also incredibly unrealistic and tries to sell Paris in the way Hallmark Christmas movies are trying to sell Christmas. When you look past the romantic hue, you will see “Emily in Paris” is built around the ideal capitalist lifestyle, and its protagonist is an incredibly toxic and conceited woman.

First, we have to discuss Emily’s outfits. Every episode she wears thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes. For example, she sports a green Chanel coat that retails for $6,195. I understand wearing nice clothes, but if you are a mid-level marketing executive at a random firm in Chicago, it seems unlikely you would be able to afford such a jacket. This just plays into the unrealistic, wasteful lifestyle Emily leads.

Second, the men she hangs out with are a strange assortment of characters. They range from a 17-year-old boy to a married man with a mistress. To add a little more heat to the fire, this man’s mistress is Emily’s boss.

As one would expect, she has many quirky misadventures and falls in love with the one guy in Paris she cannot have: her friend Camille’s boyfriend. Camille is a very helpful and kind friend, yet Emily kisses her boyfriend twice and sleeps with him the night after they break up. Oh yeah, the 17-year-old boy she slept with? He was Camille’s brother.

Now that we’ve discussed Emily’s shortfalls, let’s move on to the show’s depiction of Paris. I get it, people want to romanticize Paris as the city of love, sex and good food. But Paris is much more complex than that — it’s an actual city, not just a place for ideals.

This gets to my earlier point: the show’s depiction of Paris is just like a stereotypical Christmas movie’s depiction of Christmas. Christmas is commonly portrayed as a holiday for finding your true love and living happily ever after. But that doesn’t align with reality, and nowhere will you find a perfect, fantastic wonderland like those in the movies.

Paris has a homeless population of more than 3,000 people, which has been increasing since the financial crisis in 2008. By depicting Paris as such an ideal city, the show discounts legitimate issues in society. Shows such as “Emily in Paris” contribute to the stereotyping of certain cities as having superior standards of life and reality.

Though I think this show is problematic, it is a good way to take a break from everything going on because it doesn’t demand much attention. Emily lives an interesting life, even if there is no overarching point to the show. If you like materialism and toxic people getting what they want, then this is the show for you.